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CONSIDERATION OF ORDINANCE NO. O-1314-44 UPON SECOND AND FINAL READING: AN ORDINANCE OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF NORMAN, OKLAHOMA, AMENDING ARTICLE III, SECTION 19-303 OF CHAPTER 19 OF THE CODE OF THE CITY OF NORMAN BY ADDING A PROVISION REGARDING THE PLACEMENT OF DUMPSTER AND/OR COMPACTOR ON PROPERTY ZONED INDUSTRIAL, COMMERCIAL, OFFICE OR MULTI-FAMILY; AND PROVIDING FOR THE SEVERABILITY THEREOF.
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BACKGROUND: In 2010, City Council was approached by a homeowner requesting that City Council consider a potential ordinance amendment to regulate the placement of dumpsters adjacent to single family homes. The homeowner had concerns with the odor of a neighboring dumpster as it was located very near to the rear windows of her home. City Council then asked staff to review ordinances from other cities and to draft a proposed amendment for review by the Oversight Committee.
The Oversight Committee met to discuss this topic in September and October 2010 and January and April 2011. At the 2010 Oversight Committee meetings, the Committee reviewed ordinances from Ardmore, Broken Arrow, Lawton, Midwest City, Oklahoma City, and Stillwater. Other cities reviewed, Moore and Tulsa, did not have ordinances dealing with dumpster placement. At the January 5, 2011 meeting, the Oversight Committee requested that City staff draft amendments to the proposed Ordinance that would include a retroactivity clause to bring all dumpsters placed adjacent to single family zones or uses into compliance with a twenty-foot setback proposed by the Ordinance amendment. The Oversight Committee, at their April 2011 meeting, reviewed a final draft of the proposed changes and requested that draft be forwarded for consideration by the full City Council.
Subsequent to those meetings, City Council adopted O-1011-7 on May 24, 2011 that required any dumpster and/or compactor to be set back twenty feet from the property line where property that is zoned Industrial, Commercial, Office, or Multi-Family abuts a single-family residential zone. The Ordinance applied to all new construction. In addition, existing businesses were required to come into compliance with the terms of this ordinance within six months after the ordinance was adopted. However, the Director of Utilities, or his designee, had the authority to waive or modify this requirement as potential site limitations might dictate.
The Ordinance also contained language that, if a developer chooses to locate dumpsters and the required enclosures within a platted utility easement, the developer assumes all responsibility for any damage to the enclosure if utility work needs to be completed in the easement. This protects the City of Norman from damage claims if an enclosure is damaged while the City of Norman, or other utility companies, performs work in a utility easement.
DISCUSSION: This Ordinance was added to Chapter 19: Subdivision Regulations as Section 19-303(P). However, while the Oversight Committee was considering these new requirements, City Council was also discussing the Ordinance creating Water Quality Protection Zones, O-1011-52. Both the dumpster placement Ordinance and the WPQZ Ordinance amended Chapter 19 by adding Section 19-303(P). The dumpster requirements were adopted by Council on May 31, 2011 and would have gone into effect on June 30, 2011. However, the WPQZ Ordinance was adopted by Council on June 11, 2011. The WPQZ Ordinance, also beginning at Chapter 19, § 19-303(P) effectively overrode the newly adopted, but not yet effective, dumpster provisions. It appears that this oversight occurred because the dumpster language had not yet been codified in either the Code book or on www.municode.com <http://www.municode.com/> prior to the adoption of the WPQZ Ordinance.
This oversight came to light recently. To date, the Utilities Department has not received any complaints that necessitated retrofitting of existing dumpsters.
RECOMMENDATION: Because of this oversight, Staff has included this item on City Council's agenda in order to consider re-adopting the dumpster placement requirements now proposed to be located in Chapter 19, § 19-303(V).